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'The Enlightenment' was a time when new systems of thought, based on the application of reason and observation of evidence, were championed. Although the ...
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David Hume
th
century, its seeds were sown much earlier.For example, accepted religious systemsof belief had already been challenged byscientists such as Galileo Galilei. Galileo,building on the work of Copernicus, andusing telescopes to observe themovements of the planets, concluded thatthe Earth was
not^ the centre of the universe. Some parts of the CatholicChurch considered this heretical, as thebible stated that the Earth was immovableand fixed in the heavens. Even though
such figure wasDavid Hume, aScottish philosopher.Amongst many otherthings, Humechallenged biblicalaccounts of miracles,stating that, as theyclearly violated the‘laws of nature’, theywere highly
improbable. The period also saw great politicalupheavals as nations wrestled with therelationship between citizen, church andstate. The French Revolution, wheresupporters of democracy sought tooverthrow the rule of monarchy, is oftencited as one of the key events in theEnlightenment.^ The Storming of the Bastille – often cited as the
beginning of The French Revolution
A visible difference – ‘The Enlightenment’ and its impact on medicine
2
. Empiricism stresses the role of^ experience
when developing one’s view
A medical researcher engaged in observation
Scientists see it is as part of their work toprovide
observable evidence
that can bear
out, or disprove theories. The strongestarguments are those that can berepeatedly tested against observableevidence.John Hunter, who lived during theEnlightenment, was an early and vigorousadvocate of scientific approaches in thecause of advancing medicine.
John Hunter He encouraged his students to conductexperiments that would help themunderstand more clearly how the human
body reacted under differentcircumstances, and apply that knowledgeto the treatment of patients. Hunter (andhis contemporaries) recognised the valueof gathering observations and preservingevidence even when they didn'tunderstand or couldn't agree on thetheories behind them. One importantfunction of John Hunter's museum was toprovide a collection of
evidence
for others
to look at.The attitudes towards medicine he helpedpioneer are still held dear by theprofession to this day. For instance,medical pathology is concerned, amongstother things, with the
scientific study
of
disease processes, helping us to devisenew ways to combat them.